Cardio exercises are aimed at increasing the heart rate and are very effective for burning calories. They are beneficial in strengthening cardiovascular and respiratory muscles. They improve blood circulation and help in toning the overall body.

There are various types of cardio exercises, the important ones include:

A) Outdoor cardio exercises

This is like walking, jump-roping, jogging, running, bi-cycling, swimming and some types of skiing.

Walking, jogging and bicycling are low intensity cardio exercises that should be carried on for longer durations to gain benefits. These exercises require a 40-60% of maximum heart rate capacity and should be carried on almost non-stop for 30-45 minutes. Since these exercises are not too demanding they can be easily taken up by obese people as part of their weight loss program.

Running, swimming and other sports like basketball, footballs etc. are medium intensity and medium duration exercises. They require 70% of your maximum heart rate capacity and usually take 20-30 minutes a day. You should take them up after you have succeeded in the low intensity cardio. An important characteristic of these exercises is that you tend to breathe heavily after a workout.

B) Indoor Cardio Exercises

It include using treadmills, stationary bicycles, stair climbers, rowing machines, elliptical trainers and ladder climbers.

Among these running on a treadmill, stationary bicycling belongs to the high-intensity, low duration category. Such exercises require about 80 to 85% of your maximum heart rate and 5-20 minutes of vigorous performance is sufficient. You must achieve high fitness levels before moving on to high intensity exercises.

C) Aerobic Interval Training

It requires alternating between high-medium cardio exercises. The merit of this type of cardio exercise is that you can alternate the intensity of the workout to keep up with yourself.

D) Fartlek Training

It is a mix of low, medium and high intensity workouts. For instance, you can walk for 10-20 minutes, jog for the next 5-10 minutes, run\sprint for 3-2 minutes and then start walking again. The name Fartlek actually means ‘play’ in Swedish and this training is really a lot of fun.

You can choose the type of cardio exercise that suits your fitness level and your needs.